The OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF) is a registered not-for-profit company (company limited by guarantee) which supports the OpenStreetMap project (for further information see "About" page at blog.osmfoundation.org). The company is registered in the United Kingdom according to the law of England and Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland have distinct company laws). Other dfficial information is available from the Foundation's website osmfoundation.org.

Purpose

The Foundation was established to:

To be a custodian for the servers and services necessary to host the OpenStreetMap project. Specifically the foundation is the custodian of the servers located at UCL and the www.openstreetmap.org domain name.

To afford some degree of protection from copyright and liability suits.

To provide a vehicle for fundraising to support the project.

upcoming 2016 AGM and election to board

The 2016 Annual General Meeting of the foundation will take place on Saturday, 10th December 2016. Ahead of that there will be an election process to fill two seats on the board, with a call for candidates, votes by email, and final counts at the AGM itself. (you do not have to attend the AGM to vote)

2015 AGM and election to board

Membership

Anyone can join the Foundation through the foundation website for £15.
A members email-list is available to members to communicate with other members (anyone can read the discussion). Discounts for some OSMF organised events such as the annual State of the Map conference) are offered. Members can stand for election at the AGM each year and can vote for the board and other ballots. Attendance at the AGM is not required for voting. Since 2014 voting is via on-line voting service with email invitation for all members. Prior to 2014 voting was by paper ballot in person at the AGM, or email by proxy. Join

You do not have to be a member in order to use or contribute to OpenStreetMap.

Working Groups

Many of the activities of the foundation are carried out by working groups. The following working groups are currently active:-

Communication Working Group

Support and maintain the OSM Foundation website

Support and maintain communication tools between OSM Foundation members and board

Data Working Group

Licence Working Group

Licence and other legal topics.

Local Chapters Working Group

Main article:Foundation/Local Chapters
To establish a framework for federated Local Chapters of the Foundation where local or special interest groups are able to set up a formal relationship with the Foundation. Federated groups will also be able to represent themselves to other official bodies such as the Government and media organisations [1] This group is currently looking for local OSM leaders.

Operations Working Group

Deals with issues related to the operation of servers and other related operational matters.

Under construction

Board minutes indicate the founding of a working group for membership services, as a transition from the earlier membership secretary model. Discussion and details Membership Services Working Group

Engineering Working Group (discontinued)

Supports the OSM development community and serves as a technical forum for the discussion and resolution of development-related issues. This working group was discontinued in 2015.

Governance

Board

Minutes

Formal meetings normally held monthly and the Board Meeting Minutes are published on the foundation website.

Communications

To contact the board in normal circumstances please email the secretary using secretary@osmfoundation.org.

The full board can be emailed using board@osmfoundation.org. Note that this email alias is not limited to the aforementioned board members, but may also be copied to other parties (currently, Steve Coast and Michael Collinson).

The Officers (Kate, Paul and Frederik) can be emailed using officers@osmfoundation.org